MO - Tornado Slams Joplin

[fran]

http://www.kctv5.com/news/28057781/detail.html

JOPLIN, Mo. -- A teenager believed to be ejected or sucked from his father's car on the way home from graduation in the massive Joplin tornado last week is dead.

Will Norton's aunt, Tracey Presslor, said Saturday that the family received confirmation of his death late Friday night. She declined to say more until a later news conference.

Family members had previously told The Associated Press that Norton and his father were still on the road when the storm hit. Mark Norton urged his son to pull over, but the teen's Hummer H3 flipped several times, throwing the young man from the vehicle, likely through the sunroof. The elder Norton was hospitalized.
Several social-networking efforts specifically focused on finding information about Norton.
The death toll from the savage storm stands at 132 people.

I saw this earlier today. He died ONE hour after graduating from high school.

Bless his soul.

fran

 

[Reannan]

I saw this earlier today. He died ONE hour after graduating from high school.

Bless his soul.

fran

Yes... Bless His Soul!!! This story has particularly haunted me from the many horror stories of the Joplin Tornado. All of the promise of the future ahead, and he just.....vanished. None of us should forget Norton, or how quickly life can change from grandeur to complete horror. None of us should forget his family or the complete devastation that they are suffering. Oh how I wish I could help more than just being a single soul on the internet that cares!!!! I want people to REMEMBER!!!!

 

[Soulmagent]

I always think all conspiracy when I hear things like the morgue is under gaurd. And hidden.

Like when the trains went into Homestead FL, and pulled out in the middle of the night.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Rest in peace, Will. #Ripwillnorton on Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/search?q=#Ripwillnorton


Body of Will Norton, Joplin teen 'sucked out' of SUV during tornado, found in pond

The remains of a teen who had just celebrated his high school graduation before being swept away by the deadly twister that tore through Missouri has been found.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...ring_tornado_found_in_pond.html#ixzz1NoaxMCge
​

jcqo


His YouTube channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/willdabeast88883333
​

 

[wfgodot]

Young Joplin woman: Starting over ‘very overwhelming’ (Joplin Globe)

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When the tornado hit, it was “as loud as 10 trains,” [Ashley] Hill said. The wind howled, scattering debris for what seemed like an interminable time. Crouched in the bathtub, the couple began to pray.

“At one point we really thought it was the end and we weren’t going to make it, but I said, ‘No, we’re going to make it,’” she said. “About the end of the Lord’s Prayer, we felt a relief and felt the rain again.”
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a second-grade teacher's experience of the storm; much more at link above

Thousands hear message of support, reassurance (Joplin Globe)

When Kurt Carpenter saw President Barack Obama walking toward him Sunday on Kentucky Avenue, he could not believe his eyes.

“I had the EF-5 jitters all over again,’’ he said.

Carpenter said the president came right up to him and put his arm around him.
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“I kept thinking — he’s talking to ME? He’s putting his arm around ME?’’
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the President's visit to Joplin and the storm victims's reactions; much more at link above

Superintendent: Storm took lives of seven students, teacher (Joplin Globe)

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Two hours earlier, a tearful Superintendent C.J. Huff announced that although the school district had earlier accounted for all students, faculty and staff members, “today we grieve the loss of eight of our (school district) family members.”
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“We must never forget those who died,” Huff told a crowd of parents, students, faculty and residents who gathered at the high school.
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the realities of losses and the job of rebuilding; much more at link above

 

[wfgodot]

Excellent look at SAR K-9 work in Joplin:

Final sweep of debris field under way (Joplin Globe)

JOPLIN, Mo. — Jewel, a German bird dog, carefully walks through the debris, sniffing the air.

When she detects something, her ears perk up. Her back stiffens.

“It’s that change in behavior we are looking for,” said her trainer, Carrie Gove, with Missouri Search & Rescue K-9 of Kansas City.

“If she sees that I did not see her change in behavior, she will come looking for me,” Gove said. “She comes back and jumps on me. She’ll knock me down to tell me she has found something. They are that victim-loyal.”
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http://tiny.cc/sz7ax

last part of this article plus more at link above

 

[i.b.nora]

Rachel just reported there was a tornado in Western Massachusetts today, crossing the Connecticut River near Springfield and killing 4 people.

 

[wfgodot]

College student survives Tuscaloosa, Joplin tornadoes (Joplin Globe)

JOPLIN, Mo. — Emily Fuller missed the fury of the Tuscaloosa, Ala., tornado by about two blocks.

Weeks later, she found herself in a hauntingly familiar situation as she missed the fury of the Joplin tornado — again, by about two blocks.
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“I do feel guilty because I still have a house, and it’s happened to me twice,” she said. “I didn’t have any damage to either place that I lived, so I do feel guilty that I have a bed to go home to.”
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http://tiny.cc/0p5oy

the rest of this interesting tale at link above

 

[wfgodot]

Riverside officer who was hit by lighting in Joplin during search-and-rescue dies (Joplin Globe)

RIVERSIDE, Mo. — The Riverside police officer who was struck by lightning on May 23 after joining in the rescue effort following the Joplin tornado died today at a Springfield hospital.

Jefferson “Jeff” Taylor, who volunteered to go to Joplin, was 31 years old, according to the Kansas City Star.
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more at link above

 

[wfgodot]

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Though at least 138 people were killed and more than 1,150 people were injured, [Bill Davis, chief meteorologist with the weather service station at Springfield] said, it could have been much worse.

If the tornado track had been farther north, it would have gone through a more densely populated part of the city. If it had happened on a weekday, more people would have been in the businesses and schools that were destroyed, and more people would have been traveling home from work and school. If the graduation ceremony for Joplin High School had been held at the high school, it is likely more people would have died.

“Every day since this event, I have thought about the sheer level of destruction and wondered why more people were not killed,” Davis said. “This was an act of nature. The fact that so many more people were not killed was an act of God.”

http://tiny.cc/pp1v0

.....

 

[wfgodot]

Love this good news:

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(City manager Mark) Rohr said a resident on Wednesday found a dog still alive that had been trapped in rubble since the storm. A resident reported hearing a dog trapped in rubble in the 2500 block of Adele Avenue. Nearby construction workers and volunteers were able to uncover the dog, and it was reunited with its owner.

Another dog that had been trapped was found alive early Friday morning. Rohr said the city was trying to locate the owner of that animal. No details were available on the location of that rescue.

To date, 296 pets have been reunited with their owners, Rohr said.
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http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x1517688309/Joplin-lifts-curfew-add-more-patrols

 

[wfgodot]

Three more victims of the Joplin tornado have died, raising the death toll to 141, Joplin officials announced today.
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http://www.kansascity.com/2011/06/05/2928504/three-more-joplin-tornado-victims.html

A lengthy story in this morning's Joplin Globe is easily the best I've ever read about the experience and the horror of it; it's a must-read:

Desperate moments: Spotters watched storm build

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This was business as usual for tornado season in Southwest Missouri.

But inside Jeff Piotrowski’s storm-chasing truck, it was anything but business as usual.

Piotrowski, a storm spotter from Tulsa, Okla., was tracking the May 22 storm with his wife, Kathryn.
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"Then the houses began to cry"

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The Piotrowskis turned their attention to the neighborhood near the high school, inching their own now-battered truck down Iowa Street, looking for survivors. When their truck met a barricade of twisted steel and could go no farther, they got out and walked. As the neighborhood came into full view, they were scarcely able to comprehend what they saw. Nothing was left standing.

An entire neighborhood — dozens of homes — had become scattered piles of rubble.

Then the houses began to cry.

Whimpers, at first, then sobs. Within moments those sobs became a choir of pleas for help and finally, screams of agony. These were the cries of surviving individuals, trapped in the splintered remains of their homes.
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The first video released by the Piotrowskis is linked in the article above; here's the most recent - incredibly powerful stuff:
[video=youtube;EfdK6H9d6J0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfdK6H9d6J0&feature=iv&annotation_id=annotation_121073[/video]

 

[wfgodot]

Family cat rescued after 16 days under rubble

JOPLIN, Mo. — Terrla Cruse on Tuesday was talking with her sister, Suzi Hoskins, on the rubble pile that remained of her former house at 2417 S. Joplin Ave.
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As Cruse talked with her sister, they heard meowing. She and her husband had been back to look for Lavern several times, but had no luck finding her and had come to accept that the feline probably had perished.

Cruse said she and her sister dug through the rubble, led by the meowing. She said she continued to think that it probably was the neighbor’s cat and not Lavern. The meowing stopped for a bit, then resumed.

After awhile, Lavern’s head emerged, then they removed more debris to free her completely.
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the rest at Joplin Globe link above

 

[wfgodot]

900 pets still homeless after Joplin tornado

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"Honey, when I left here the first time, I bawled all the way home," [Linda] Head said during a recent visit to the shelter. "I'll bawl all the way home today, because I don't have my buddies."

long story at KC Star link above

 

[wfgodot]

Death toll now at 154.

Number of fungal cases climbs to 12 (Joplin Globe)

JOPLIN, Mo. — Investigators with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have increased the number of confirmed zygomycosis fungal cases in Joplin from nine to 12.
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The CDC has sent four employees and two epidemiologists to Joplin. The team will be in Joplin for two weeks.
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The rare infection, zygomycosis, can have a fatality rate of 50 percent.

much more at Globe link above

 

[wfgodot]

This tragedy has, as tragedies will, produced some great journalism. This might be the best piece so far - particularly for those of us who have worked in hospitals, but, really, for any reader. When President Obama spoke in Jopin he said, "There are heroes all around us all the time." Sisters of Mercy hospital St. John's on 22 May exemplified it: there are heroes all around us all the time.


Condition Gray: Inside the hospital as the Joplin tornado hit (Kansas City Star)

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Patients are screaming as nurses Angie Abner, Tracy Hernandez and others emerge from the rubble. Water mixes with blood.

Hernandez looks out the gaping hole that was the emergency room entrance. A helicopter lies on its side like a dead beast. Next to it, in the pouring rain, is a female deer.

“It was just standing out there,” Hernandez would recall. “Just terrified. Trembling. In shock.”
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Outside the ER, the wind catapults a man through the emergency unit’s blown-out entryway, where St. John’s floor tech Ben Graskemper, 31, a volunteer firefighter as imposing as a bouncer, snatches him from the air and shields him beneath his body.

“Please, God,” Graskemper hears the man mutter, “don’t let us die.”
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much, much more at Star link above

 

[legalmania]

A group of chefs from New Orleans who have been through similar devastation brought the residents of Joplin a big truck load of fresh uncooked seafood, hot dogs and appetizers. The residence were treated to music and seafood, something to temporarily relieve most of them from what is probably the worst time of their lives. I'm sure the chefs were very cautious as to what was served to an already vulnerable crowd. They must have looked like saints to some of these people. A hot meal can bring new hope and I think the chefs knew this. This is another reason that makes America a great place to live, during a tragedy people come together.

http://www.bestofneworleans.com/blo...gs-food-and-music-to-joplin-tornado-survivors

 

[wfgodot]

This is a fairly harrowing and lengthy read: will your big box store kill you?

Experts challenge Home Depot building design, codes after Joplin tornado (Kansas City Star)

 

[rachelle]

Extreme Makeover Home Edition is airing its last episode tonight. It is the Joplin, Mo 7 homes in 7 days episode.

Although I personally did not get affected by the tornado (I live here in Joplin!) my dad and stepmom's house was hit, and I just wanted to let everyone know it airs tonight in case you guys wanted to watch it!

 

[angela]

I loved the episode. All of the families were great but I developed a super soft spot for Mr Nguyen.